GROW · VOLUME 3 OF 3 · DEEP DIVEEstate and legacy shelf
Digital Estate Planning
A practical guide to the part of an estate that sits behind a login: online accounts, photos and email, cryptocurrency, and digital businesses. It explains what you own online, the state and federal rules that decide who can reach it, how to give your family access without weakening your security, and how to write and keep up a plan that works.
Chapters7
Reading time40 min
Worked examples6
Updated2026-10-01
What you will be able to do
- Build an inventory of your digital assets and say what should happen to each one.
- Explain how the fiduciary access law most states use ranks platform settings, your will and terms of service, and what your will needs to say.
- Set up a password manager with emergency access, sealed recovery codes and platform legacy settings so your family can reach what they need.
- Plan the handover of cryptocurrency and a digital business so neither is lost or frozen.
- Run a yearly review that keeps your accounts, legacy contacts and beneficiary designations current.
Contents
7 CHAPTERS · ABOUT 40 MIN- 01Mapping Your Digital Estate What counts as a digital asset, the four kinds of digital property, why licensed media often cannot pass on, what paperless accounts and forgotten subscriptions cost a family, and how to build an inventory without writing down a single password.7 min2 computed
- 02The Law Behind Digital Access Why a password is not permission: federal privacy law, terms of service, and the fiduciary access act most states use, which ranks platform settings above your will. Also the will clause most people lack, why your state matters, and the cash a household needs while accounts are frozen.7 min1 computed
- 03Passwords, Password Managers and Emergency Access How to let your family in without letting thieves in: protect your email and phone number, use a password manager with emergency access, seal a backup of the master password and recovery codes, and know where access ends and legal authority begins.6 min
- 04Email, Photos and Social Media After You Are Gone Choosing between memorializing, deleting and handing over each account, the after-death settings Google, Apple and Facebook offer, downloading what matters now, how much of your email to open to your executor, and protecting other people's privacy.5 min
- 05Passing On Cryptocurrency and NFTs Exchange accounts versus self-custody, how recovery phrases and hidden passphrases really work, multi-signature wallets, trusts and what professional custody costs, what an NFT owner actually holds, and the tax rules heirs meet, including the step-up in basis.6 min1 computed
- 06Keeping a Digital Business Running What a successor needs to keep an online business alive, why owning it through an entity changes the handover, the income at risk and the runway a business needs while payouts are frozen, and how to give a stand-in a proper role instead of your password.5 min2 computed
- 07Writing Your Plan and Keeping It Current The six pieces of a working digital estate plan, choosing an executor, digital helper and curator, checking the beneficiary designations that override your will, and a yearly review routine that keeps the plan from going stale.6 min
CALCULATORS USED IN THIS BOOK